Saturday, April 30, 2016

No school, no sports, no school, no going outside for girls in Pakistan in the conservative area of Waziristan, .

Maria Toorpakai burns her dresses at age four, and dresses as a boy. She becomes the best squash player in Pakistan, but when the officials discover she is a girl, the Taliban starts threatening her, and she goes inside.

She sends out hundreds of emails across the world hoping someone would sponsor her to leave Pakistan, and heard from one person, Jonathan Power, a world squash champion living in Canada. He wants to help her become a world champion, and brought her to Canada.

Her story is coming out in a book next week, "A Different Kind of Daughter: The Girl Who Hid From the Taliban in Plain Sight."

Thursday, April 21, 2016

The British government has issued a travel advisory for its citizens warning
travelers to be aware of controversial new laws in North Carolina and
Mississippi before visiting the United States. The concern was directed to members of the country's lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender community and posted on the Foreign Office's website
Tuesday.

We would love to see the United States government issue such a warning about US citizens traveling to North Carolina and Mississippi, and include everyone. People in those states don't have to have proof of gender identity or orientation to discriminate, so everyone should be aware if you plan to set foot there. It could happen to you.

Republican leaders are starting to abandon ship, saying they will not attend their convention this summer because it may become nasty, even though that may not be their upfront excuse.

The Republican party, the primary supporters of political and social hierarchies, who has created the 1%, legislated the reason people are so fed up with Congress who stalls reasonable bills, and spreads hate to anyone who is not white, male, Christian, able-bodied and hetersexual, now does not want to deal with the fractured party it has created.

No accountability, leave it to someone else. Not my problem. So typical of the top of the hierarchy.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Mormon Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, the largest religious university in America, requires its students to adhere to a rigid "Honor Code"that mandates living a “chaste and virtuous life,” “clean language” and abstaining from alcohol and coffee, among other things.

Madi Barney, 20, filed a Title IX complaint against BYU with the Department of Education on Monday alleging that BYU put her on academic hold after they learned
that she reported an off-campus rape to the local police in September. Her accused rapist, 39-year-old, Nasir Seidu, has been charged with undressing her and partaking in sexual intercourse without Barney’s consent.

“Dealing with this hostile environment has been upsetting,
re-victimizing, and discouraging, to say the least,” Barney wrote on a petition with more than 87,000 signatures. “It’s clear to me that BYU is not on my side.”

The incident is controversial in Utah, with front page
coverage and an editorial in the Salt Lake Tribune critical of the
handling of this and other cases. “Without intending to, BYU has given
rapists an advantage,” the Salt Lake Tribune said in an editorial. “If a woman has crossed any of these lines, she faces a different
dynamic with a potential assailant, who can essentially say, ‘I’m doing
this, and if you tell anybody, we’re both going down.'”

Saturday, April 16, 2016

2016 will celebrate the 50th year that women have run the Boston Marathon. Now they make up almost half of the racers, but in 1966, Bobbi Gibb tucked her hair into her hoodie and sneaked into the race.

A year after Gibb's first run, Kathrine Switzer registered for the race
using her first initial, but the race co-director Jock Semple chased her onto
the course and tried to pull off her bib number. Men who were racing knocked
him out of the way.

According to US talk show host Dr Laura, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22,
and cannot be condoned under any circumstances. Here is an open letter to that doctor, written by a professor emeritus.

Dear Dr. Laura
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I
have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that
knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the
homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus
18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need
some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's
Laws and how to follow them.
1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may
possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from
neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to
Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in
Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair
price for her?
3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a
woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15:
19-24. The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most
women take offense.
4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a
sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The
problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them.
Should I smite them?
5. I have a neighbor who insists on working
on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am
I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to
do it?
6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating
shellfish is an abomination, Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than
homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees'
of abomination?
7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the
altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear
reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some
wiggle-room here?
8. Most of my male friends get their hair
trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is
expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?
9. I know
from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean,
but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
10. My uncle has
a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the
same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different
kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and
blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of
getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't
we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with
people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
I know you have
studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise
in such matters, so I'm confident you can help.
Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.
Your adoring fan,
James M. Kauffman, Ed.D. Professor Emeritus, Dept. Of Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education University of Virginia

Saturday, April 9, 2016

Hats off the Bruce Springsteen for cancelling his concert in Greensboro, North Carolina after the legislature passed a sweeping anti-LGBT law.

"Some things are more important than a rock show and [the] fight against
prejudice and bigotry—which is happening as I write—is one of them. [Canceling the show] is the strongest means I have for raising my
voice in opposition to those who continue to push us backwards instead
of forwards."

With every individual hierarchy that is challenged, our country comes closer to ending prejudice against anyone. Springsteen described the law as "an attempt by people who cannot stand
the progress our country has made in recognizing the human rights of all
of our citizens to overturn that progress."

In other words, hierarchy conservators are clueless, extreme, and refuse to join in the tide that will not be stopped. They cling to their death struggle and won't let go.

Monday, April 4, 2016

Texas Representative Louie Gohmert has told women where they belong, according to him.

"Women were created for one thing and one thing alone. We are insulting
the Lord by allowing women to act like men. Women are beautiful
creatures, no doubt about that. We marry them, we look after them, we
provide for them and we love them, but that does not mean they are the
same as us. It is the job of a woman to stay at home, to maintain the
household, to bear children and look after them after they’re born.
Nowhere in the scriptures does it say that women should be chasing after
fancy titles and knowledge. The only knowledge they need is the one we
men allow them to have."

We thought older white male types like him would be dying off eventually, but they linger. Who elects these out-of-touch clueless hierarchy supporters?

A documentary about the diver Greg Louganis has inspired General Mills to finally put him on a Wheaties Box, belatedly.

Louganis, 56, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, will begin
appearing on Wheaties boxes next month. He will also be joined by hurdler Edwin Moses and the
swimmer Janet Evans, two other previously overlooked Olympic champions,
who will appear on separate boxes.

The pressure to put Louganis on the Wheaties box, a symbol of sports
achievement for 80 years, began last August with the release of a
documentary, “Back on Board: Greg Louganis,” on HBO. Julie Sondgerath, an information
technology manager in Chicago, to start a petition on Change.org.

Louganis believes that homophobia was most likely the reason that
Wheaties did not respond after the 1984 and 1988 Summer
Olympics. There were rumors that he was gay during his Olympic career,
but he did not come out publicly until the Gay Games in 1994. In his
autobiography the next year, he revealed that he had tested positive for
H.I.V. before the 1988 Summer Games. Louganis said recently he was at a point in his life where he could better appreciate the Wheaties news.